Robert M Petro RN
USA College of Nursing - NU 410 – Fall 2014
A Nursing Philosophy of Advocacy
The profession of nursing has matured from the time of Florence Nightingale to the present. Nursing has gone from just treating dying soldiers on the battle field to helping guide people through their entire lives from birth to death. Nurses have become instrumental in the health and well being of the population helping with preventing illness and helping those with disease. The maturation of nursing has led to changes in nursing philosophy and allowed for practitioners of Nursing to meld these philosophies into their own internal nursing philosophy. In this paper I will explain my philosophy of nursing and compare it to Virginia Henderson 's definition of nursing along with discussing some …show more content…
The philosophy has changed but the main goal of nursing, the helping of the needy, has remained constant. From bizarre theories from Martha Rogers about unitary humans having irreducible energy fields the more middle range theory of Katherine Kolcaba that humans seek to have their basic comforts met (Blais &Hayes, 2011 101-110). I prefer Virginia Henderson 's definition of nursing that nursing relates to the patient and a nurse becomes a partner with the patient (Blais &Hayes, 2011 100). The advocacy in her definition is clearly defined and a requirement for her definition. Her theory allows for a different nurse approach to many situations and focuses on patient well being while sick and health. The addition of nursing for healthy people was something I learned in the military. Nurses are responsible to help people maintain healthiness and reduce instances of illness. This has become a main focus of recent social healthcare encoring patients to change their life style before illness becomes a problem. Eating well and exercising is defiantly something nurses can